Nhl

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) of Russia skates down ice with New York Rangers center Jeff Halpern (15) defending in the third period of their NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Malkin scored a first period goal as the Penguins shutout the Rangers 3-0. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

NEW YORK — Tomas Vokoun stopped 28 shots for his 49th NHL shutout, and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored on the first shot of the first and third periods in a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

Evgeni Malkin gave the Penguins the lead just 1:24 in, James Neal added a power-play goal 28 seconds into the third — after another costly too many men on the ice penalty for the Rangers — and Simon Despres netted his second NHL goal to give Pittsburgh (4-3) its second win in five games.

Malkin added an assist, as did captain Sidney Crosby, on Neal's goal. Despres came out of the penalty box to score at 10:23 of the third right after Rangers defenseman Anton Stralman hit the post at the other end.

Pittsburgh is winless at home but 4-1 on the road. The Penguins have two wins in New York this season, one fewer than the host Rangers, who had won three of four overall.

Vokoun was steady throughout in earning his 289th NHL victory, but wasn't challenged much by the Rangers (3-4), who have scored two goals or fewer in four games. He was bailed out twice in the third by drives that struck posts behind him.

New York struggled to generate offense in its first game without captain Ryan Callahan, expected to be sidelined 10-14 games by a shoulder injury sustained Tuesday in a win against Philadelphia.

Sabres 7, Bruins 4: In Boston, Thomas Vanek had three goals and two assists, setting up the tiebreaking score with 13:06 left in the third period on Thursday night to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 7-4 victory over the Boston Bruins.

Vanek opened the scoring 98 seconds into the game, then had a goal and an assist to tie it after Boston took a 3-1 lead in the second. The Bruins went up 4-3 in the third before Alexander Sulzer tied it on a wrister from the faceoff circle, and then Vanek helped give Buffalo the lead when he kept the puck in the zone, faked a shot and slid it over to Cody Hodgson for the game-winner.

Ryan Miller made 38 saves for Buffalo, which ended a four-game winless streak.

Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots for the Bruins.

Islanders 5, Devils 4: In Newark, N.J., Brad Boyes scored a power-play goal on a rebound at 2:01 of overtime and the New York Islanders beat the Devils 5-4 on Thursday night, handing New Jersey its third straight loss in overtime.

John Tavaras scored twice, and Keith Aucoin and Mark Streit once for the Islanders.

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